Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Supreme Court has ruled that Jerusalem must pay for a LGBT community centre.

The Open House centre has struggled to gain funding for several years and today, judges said that the city municipality must give it $120,000.

A legal battle over the issue has been ongoing for the last seven years.

Between 2003 and 2005, the centre received limited funding after appealing to the administrative court.

In 2005-2007, the court rejected another appeal for funds, prompting the latest legal action.

In the ruling, the judges wrote that Open House had seen its requests for funding rejected time and again and added that the gay community must be afforded the same support it receives from other Israeli cities.

According to YNet News, they wrote: "We cannot but express hope that the municipality will not behave stingily again and that the sides can shake hands without further involving the court."

The judges added that a respect for the gay community is what sets Israel apart from other middle-eastern states.

The ruling was welcomed by Yonatan Gher, director of the Open House, who said that Israel would no longer be able to treat gay people "disrespectfully".